


In all the old familiar places

by chezamanda



Category: Captain America, Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 1940s, Community: trope_bingo, Dancing, F/M, Kissing, Last Kiss, Romance, Second Chances, Time Travel, Tropes, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chezamanda/pseuds/chezamanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>The experiment gave Steve just one night to return to 1943, prior to his “death.” Steve knew the rules: he could not cross paths with himself or do anything to majorly affect his timeline. Killing Hitler wasn’t exactly what Steve had in mind when he agreed to be their test subject. </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In all the old familiar places

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Trope Bingo [Time Travel]. This is my first Steve/Peggy fic! Thanks to the Hive Mind for the hand holding and beta work. Title lovingly borrowed from the classic "I'll Be Seeing You."

The experiment gave Steve just one night to return to 1943, prior to his “death.” Steve knew the rules: he could not cross paths with himself or do anything to majorly affect his timeline. Killing Hitler wasn’t exactly what Steve had in mind when he agreed to be their test subject. He didn’t explain to the techs why he had put on his dress uniform to go back, but made sure to tuck the stopwatch safely in his pocket. It was set to warn him a half hour before the portal would open back up and return him to, what was now, his own time. He only had five hours and he fully intended on making the most of them.

Returning to 1943 was relatively painless and considerably less fantastical than movies had led him to believe. After he had stepped onto the platform, one of the techs threw the switch, and he saw some strange lights. There had also been a strange tingling sensation that spread from his stomach outward all over his body. Steve blinked and, just like that, he was in a dark alley. 

Cautiously, Steve took a step forward, looking for any sign that the jump had worked. Nothing in the alleyway was giving any indication of his current year, save for the suspicious lack of oversized dumpsters that were so common. That was when he saw the cars on the street - no longer the sleek machines with gleaming paint jobs that he had grown used to seeing clogging up New York City streets - but more familiar designs with rounded headlights and metal grills. He saw a few khaki jeeps drive by and sighed with relief; it really had worked.

A burst of raucous laughter and music drew Steve’s attention to the pub a few doors down where he saw himself leave along with Bucky and the rest of his team and quickly ducked back into the alley to avoid detection. Peering around the corner, Steve watched as he tried to corral his drunk friends into walking down the sidewalk. They soon disappeared around the corner with the cheerful sound of Jacques singing something in French. 

Peggy walked out of the bar a moment later and he felt his chest seize.

Steve left his hiding place, giving himself a quick once over in the dim reflection of a store window before he made his approach. His heart was somewhere up in his throat, pounding so loudly he was sure that she could hear it. Somehow this moment was ten times more terrifying than crashing a plane into the ice and facing Loki and his alien hordes in Manhattan combined.

“Steve?” Peggy called, sounding surprised.

“Uh... hey.”

That wasn’t exactly his most inspired line. Peggy was exactly how he had remembered her and that threw his mind for a loop. Steve could always think on his feet, but now he was back to the bumbling, nervous guy he had been before Dr. Erskine’s serum had done its work.

“I thought you’d left already,” she said as he walked up to her.

“Oh I did, but I came back,” he answered and he wasn’t exactly lying. She just didn’t need to know how long it took him to get back. 

One eyebrow raised ever so slightly, but she seemed to buy his story. “Something you forgot?”

Steve was struck just how beautiful Peggy was. His memories and the dossier photo were the only things he had to remember her by, but they weren’t the same. Not even close. The Peggy in his memories was slightly faded, just like her file photo, compared to the woman standing before him. Her eyes were different; they sparkled even in the darkness. Everything about her was more vibrant, more alive than he seemed to recall. 

“Just this,” he said and leaned down to kiss her. 

Peggy went stiff and he worried she might push him away. Though knowing her, she might have socked him one for going so far without asking. Much to his surprise, Peggy wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned the kiss. She stumbled into him, her legs knocking against his own and accidentally interrupted them. He realized she must have been standing on her tiptoes in order to reach him when she lost her balance. 

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to take you up on that dance offer before the war is over,” Steve said, gently stroking the soft curve of her jawline. 

Peggy seemed to consider his proposal for a moment before she responded, “Follow me.”

They walked back to her quarters, carefully avoiding detection, and she locked the door behind them. The room was small, furnished with a bed and a roll top desk with a chair. There was a small radio on a card table between the desk and the bed. Peggy hung her coat on the hook on the back of the door and watched him carefully, as though she wasn’t sure what to expect from him next.

“I’d offer you something to drink, but I’m afraid I don’t have anything,” she said.

“Won’t do much anyway,” he replied with a shrug, “side effect of the serum.” 

Peggy nodded. “Of course. Perhaps some music then?”

“Probably a good idea for dancing,” Steve said, giving her a little smile.

Peggy crossed over to the radio to find something for them to listen to, turning the dial between her thumb and pointer finger. Glenn Miller filled the room - Steve recognized the song though not the title. He walked over to her, holding out one hand to her and, after all these years, asked Peggy to dance. Though he was never very good at dancing - or so he had assumed, he never had gotten the opportunity - Steve could handle swaying in place. 

For such an intimidating woman, Peggy felt as delicate as porcelain in his arms. She had a pleasantly soft body beneath the fine red material that covered it. From the brief contact they had in the past, he knew that she would probably feel this way. As it turned out, reality was infinitely better than his imagination.

Neither of them spoke as they danced together in the middle of her room. The light perfume that she wore had to be the best thing he had ever smelled. Steve used their height difference to his advantage to duck his head and inhale the powdery, floral scent. An ache formed somewhere in the middle of his chest knowing that he would never wake up to the smell of her perfume on the pillow beside his in the morning.

Everything that Steve had thought about telling her clustered in his mind. It desperately wanted to come out, but the words were stuck somewhere between his head and his mouth. How could he tell her without divulging everything? He sighed quietly in resignation. She turned her head up to look at him with a little smile turning up the corners of her painted lips.

“Is something the matter?” she asked. 

Steve opened his mouth to speak, but stopped to choose his words carefully. “Just a little worried about what’s going to happen,” he replied. 

Peggy nodded and placed her head on his chest, inviting him to wrap his arms around her a little tighter. He pressed a kiss to the top of her bent head and closed his eyes. They stayed like this even after the song on the radio had changed over to something else. They remained that way, not speaking, just barely swaying along to the music song after song after song. This was more that Steve could have ever hoped for and he counted his lucky stars that he was able to have Peggy in his arms.

She shifted beneath him and lifted her head up towards his face with a gentle smile. One soft, warm hand reached up and touched his cheek. 

“Steve?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“I would like you to kiss me and do not stop until I tell you to. Understood?” she told him, speaking as calmly and directly as she did with the soldiers on base.

Steve grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

True to form, Steve followed his orders to the letter. They spent his remaining hours seated on her small bed, mouths pressed together, and barely coming up for air until absolutely necessary. Steve tried to commit every single detail to memory and hoped he could somehow live on recollection alone. He felt the warning signal buzz in the concealed pocket and was certain it had malfunctioned, jumping ahead hours when only minutes had passed. Unfortunately, that was not the case and he needed to go. 

“I’ll see you in the morning then?” Peggy asked once they had forced themselves away from her bed. 

The question made Steve’s breath catch. “Yes... yes, you will,” he replied, recovering for the momentary lapse.

“Before you go, one last thing,” she said.

Peggy tugged him back down to her, lips firm against his own. She made a surprised, but pleasant sound when he returned the kiss fiercely and pushed her up against the door. Her hands grabbed at the material of his uniform, trying to pull him closer than was humanly possible. Steve lost himself in her all over again and god, he wanted so much to stay, but this his was no longer his time. 

Steve left the building with the taste of Peggy’s mouth lingering on his lips. She had looked disappointed when they had finally separated though seemed to understand when he told her that he had to leave. The alarm buzzed with more and more urgency in his pocket, forcing him to pick up his pace until he was running the last hundred feet in order to make it to where the portal had originally dropped him. He made it in time, but just barely. 

As the bright blue light formed around him, Steve thought of the look on Peggy’s face as he walked away from her for the last time, and he closed his eyes.


End file.
